10-04-2016, 10:43 PM
Carl began his career as a security engineer in a private corporation. Within two years he was running the company's digital security and under his leadership, successful attacks were nearly eliminated. He made a name for himself in the private realm, and made a good deal of money also.
Getting involved in government work was never something he intended to do. Until one day he tinkered with the wrong target and CDPS showed up at his door. He took a deal which included a big pay cut and a ho-hum job in the Consulate, but avoided jail time. That was ten years ago. Now, at thirty-five, he had come up in the world. He married, settled down, had an apartment in central Moscow, seemed to live the life to make his parents proud.
He was more careful these days when poking around targets, careful to stay out of the CCD territory, and kept up with the forums and current day rumors in the dark world. As a side benefit, he knew how hackers operated and his skills had been put to use on more than one occasion.
"You know I met the Ascendancy once. Yep. Right in his office, the one with the giant desk and all the flags behind it. I was there." He finished dumping sugar into his coffeecup. Misha handed him a stirrer.
"I can't believe he did that. We would be dust right now. I pray the Good Mother protects him."
Carl was never religious, so he shrugged. "I should get to it then."
Misha nodded and they parted ways. The coffee was burnt but hot. It seared his lip and he gasped as he sat at the desk. Of course the first image he saw online was the Ascendancy's burnt body. Guilt over hot coffee stinging his lip promptly muted further complaints.
"Let's see what you can tell me," he spoke to the image.
It wasn't the image or the video of course he cared about. It was the hidden data embedded with such files that he probed. Ever since the beginning of digital cameras, image files came with a pile of additional information. They showed the specifics of the camera that took the image, the gps coordinates of where and the time of when it was taken. If a cloud account was used, it shared log in information. Identification, IP addresses, emails. It was all there, if you knew how to ask the right questions.
Whoever leaked these images and videos had remarkable access to a very secure hospital. Moscow Central clinical hospital was the richest and most private hospital in the Central Dominance and all of Moscow itself. That meant someone knew exactly what they were doing.
So suffice to say, Carl blinked in surprise when he rather quickly found a signature embedded in the file data.
Ph453r
"No way." He mumbled to himself and rotated to face an adjacent screen. The glass panels around his cubicle sprang to life at his touch.
The IP address led him to a familiar group.
b0r9
Carl leaned back in his chair, nestled the coffee cup under his chin and smiled. "Small digital world."
Edited by Ascendancy, Oct 4 2016, 10:43 PM.
Getting involved in government work was never something he intended to do. Until one day he tinkered with the wrong target and CDPS showed up at his door. He took a deal which included a big pay cut and a ho-hum job in the Consulate, but avoided jail time. That was ten years ago. Now, at thirty-five, he had come up in the world. He married, settled down, had an apartment in central Moscow, seemed to live the life to make his parents proud.
He was more careful these days when poking around targets, careful to stay out of the CCD territory, and kept up with the forums and current day rumors in the dark world. As a side benefit, he knew how hackers operated and his skills had been put to use on more than one occasion.
"You know I met the Ascendancy once. Yep. Right in his office, the one with the giant desk and all the flags behind it. I was there." He finished dumping sugar into his coffeecup. Misha handed him a stirrer.
"I can't believe he did that. We would be dust right now. I pray the Good Mother protects him."
Carl was never religious, so he shrugged. "I should get to it then."
Misha nodded and they parted ways. The coffee was burnt but hot. It seared his lip and he gasped as he sat at the desk. Of course the first image he saw online was the Ascendancy's burnt body. Guilt over hot coffee stinging his lip promptly muted further complaints.
"Let's see what you can tell me," he spoke to the image.
It wasn't the image or the video of course he cared about. It was the hidden data embedded with such files that he probed. Ever since the beginning of digital cameras, image files came with a pile of additional information. They showed the specifics of the camera that took the image, the gps coordinates of where and the time of when it was taken. If a cloud account was used, it shared log in information. Identification, IP addresses, emails. It was all there, if you knew how to ask the right questions.
Whoever leaked these images and videos had remarkable access to a very secure hospital. Moscow Central clinical hospital was the richest and most private hospital in the Central Dominance and all of Moscow itself. That meant someone knew exactly what they were doing.
So suffice to say, Carl blinked in surprise when he rather quickly found a signature embedded in the file data.
Ph453r
"No way." He mumbled to himself and rotated to face an adjacent screen. The glass panels around his cubicle sprang to life at his touch.
The IP address led him to a familiar group.
b0r9
Carl leaned back in his chair, nestled the coffee cup under his chin and smiled. "Small digital world."
Edited by Ascendancy, Oct 4 2016, 10:43 PM.